Dave,
Wouldn’t you say, in general, that ‘creatives’ are all for the ‘spirit’ of the law but everyone else are there to see the ‘letter’ of the law carried out? Always outnumbered but never outgunned, eh?

I think what is worse is that people play by rules and laws that actually don’t exist. A case in point comes with supermarkets and trying to standout from the shelves. The rule of thumb or law dictates that they won’t let you do anything different but that is because no one actually asks they just assume. This difference was highlighted when Magnum ice cream launched their chocolate brand in Turkey. Instead of approaching it like everyone else and trying to get space amongst the other chocolates, like Cadbury and Kraft. They simply figured they would build a chocolate stand that fitted on top of the freezer space they owned. They also understood that people were either in the mood for chocolate or ice cream. They became the number 2/3 chocolate brand in just 6 months because they didn’t follow the law. The other markets followed the law and subsequently did not have the same success.

Geordie,
I had a client say to me “You mean we should make our posters stand out from what’s around them the way we make our packs stand out on the shelves?”
It’s strange that clients get it when it’s about packs, but not when it’s about ads.

What always amused me about the Spanner trial was that the scrotum-nailed masochists then went home to wives and partners, who you would have thought might have noticed something a little out of the ordinary, but apparently not…